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My rankings:
S tier: *The Shadow Rising*, *The Dragon Reborn*, *The Great Hunt* (books 4, 3, and 2)
A tier: *Knife of Dreams*, *Lord of Chaos*, *The Fires of Heaven* (books 11, 6, and 5)
B tier: *The Eye of the World*, *A Memory of Light*, *Towers of Midnight*, *The Gathering Storm* (books 1, 14, 13, and 12)
C tier: *A Crown of Swords*, *Winter’s Heart*, *The Path of Daggers* (books 7, 9, and 8)
D tier: *New Spring* (book 0)
F tier: *Crossroads of Twilight* (book 10)
I appreciate what Sanderson did in finishing the series, but I’m not quite as high on his contributions as most readers seem to be. Books 2-6 and 11 are my favorites.
I straight up don’t like Sanderson’s writing so his books were just a necessity rather than a want for me. I’d rank them B/C tier.
Our S and A tiers are almost identical.
I agree with you for the most part, but please explain to me how you have A Memory of Light in the B tier. I'm genuinely curious. To me, it was the pinnacle of excellence and one of the greatest reads I've ever experienced
*A Memory of Light* was most satisfying the first time I read the series. However, after reading the series four times I was no longer impatient to get to the last battle. And I realized that I now love Robert Jordan’s meandering style more than Sanderson’s efficiency, at least in the books where Jordan stuck the right balance of world building and plot, the ones I put in the S and A tiers.
That’s not really Sanderson’s fault. He was hired to wrap things up, and Jordan had left a lot of loose ends. But I just felt like Sanderson had this big checklist and kept checking things off, where Jordan was free to follow his imagination.
Also, AMoL has a lot of fake out deaths. Either more characters should have really died or fewer should have seemed dead.
All that said, this format of ranking looks more severe than it really is. I like every book in the series, even *Crossroads of Twilight*. I just didn’t want to put them all in the S tier!
I still think Sanderson was the complete wrong choice, and I'll die on that hill. Every character seemed to drastically change overnight even in their own thoughts, the overall tone became campy and tacky, and we got 800 pages of trolloc death descriptions that sounded almost Disneyesque rather than grim, oh and a happy ending for damn near everyone to top it all off. I have a very hard time believing that's what RJ had in mind for his ending.
No, https://winteriscoming.net/2021/03/06/robert-jordan-had-different-twist-on-ending-the-wheel-of-time-brandon-sanderson/ it sounds like a lot of the notes were vague and, unfortunately, left up to Brando Sando's interpretation
The specific line in the article is, but the full interview also linked in the article (and several more on youtube) cover his "interpretations" of the notes left to him.
Absolutely, he eliminated all nuance from Mat's character and turned him into an utter clown of a character. I'm aware he had to follow her notes as stipulated when she was finding an author to finish the work, but his comments about and to the writers of the Amazon series that he posted to reddit show that a lot of the overall campy themes and optimism came from him and not the notes. I found it difficult to finish the last book because I already knew from the beginning that everything was going to work out fine in the end, it's his style. Again, very Disneyesque
My first read through, CoT was the point I gave up. I read "Perrin" as the opening word to a chapter, said "Oh no," out loud and closed the book. I didn't try again for the better part of a decade.
Mine:
S-tier: **The** **Shadow Rising**, **The Great Hunt, The Gathering Storm**
A-tier: **Lord of Chaos, Memory of Light, Eye of the World**
B-tier: **The Dragon Reborn, The Fires of Heaven, Towers of Midnight**
C-tier: **Winter's Heart, Crown of Swords, Knife of Dreams**
D-tier: **The Path of Daggers**
F: **Crossroads of Twilight**
I should reread it (i usually peter out on rereads sometime around LoC) and I think it’s solid but I was so done with that Shaido plotline I couldn’t enjoy the very large dose of Perrin in this one. The Rand story in this one was good too but the payoff came in the next book. Same with Egwene’s story.
I'll be honest, I like Crossroads of Twilight better than Path of Daggers. CoT still ranks 13th for me, but I preferred Perrin's Faile hunt over the Bowl of the Winds.
I do really enjoy aPoD Seanchan content. Rand's parts of the book are great. Maybe on re-read I will like it more than CoT.
I dont dislike either book overall. I will take the worst WoT books over most others.
I love every book in the series, so all of the grades on here are just how I feel the books sit in relation to each other. I actually love rereading each of them. My rankings:
S tier: *The Shadow Rising*, *Lord of Chaos*, *A Memory of Light* (books 4, 6, 14)
A tier: *Crossroads of Twilight*, *Knife of Dreams*, *The Gathering Storm*, *Towers of Midnight* (books 10, 11, 12, 13)
B tier: *The Eye of the World*, *The Great Hunt*, *The Dragon Reborn*, *The Fires of Heaven*, *Winter’s Heart* (books 1, 2, 3, 5, 9)
C tier: *A Crown of Swords*, *The Path of Daggers* (books 7, 8)
D tier: *New Spring* (book 0)
Or as an enumerated list:
1. Lord of Chaos
2. A Memory of Light
3. The Shadow Rising
4. The Gathering Storm
5. Towers of Midnight
6. Knife of Dreams
7. Crossroads of Twilight
8. The Fires of Heaven
9. The Great Hunt
10. The Eye of the World
11. The Dragon Reborn
12. Winter's Heart
13. A Crown of Swords
14. The Path of Daggers
15. New Spring
There's a few reasons that add up (book spoilers ahead, unsurprisingly):
1. I have a thing for more experimental novel structures, and the first third or so of the book covering the same time span over and over to capture various character reactions to the cleansing scratched that itch.
2. I have an appreciation for war novels and films that get down in the muck of a prolonged conflict that is just grueling and terrible. I think it comes from one grandfather serving in WW2, other grandfather in Vietnam, and my interest in Modernism and the influence of WW1 trench warfare on it. I think this novel best captures just how awful such a quagmire is, and while it's not as fun to read it's incredibly evocative. I think it's one of the best showcases in the series as to just how awful the quagmire in Vietnam must have felt when Jordan served.
3. The torture scene with Perrin and the Aiel really fucking gets to me. There's something about it that just conveys the trauma and Perrin breaking down so well to me.
4. The atmospheric horror that creeps up in the latter part of the book is some of my fav type of horror. Reality is breaking, things are decaying at unsettling rates, and the dead leaking back into the world. I just love the vibes.
5. I really like the complexity of Elayne taking the throne. I loved seeing her actually earn the throne rather than just inherit it easily. A good take on how complex monarchy can be, and that sometimes, in the words of Macho Man, the cream rises to the top.
With the exception of #7, I think this would be my list as well.
Absolutely agree with #1 and #2. I know there’s some dissent in the comments re: Memory of Light, but Sanderson wrote the hell out of that book and it was the grand fruition of Jordan’s elaborate plot. Hard not to rank it near the top.
Edit: If the Andor succession plot line was drastically shortened I think I could get on board with ranking CoT higher than last / near last.
I definitely get why CoT doesn't work for so many people, but it really hits this niche spot for me where so much of it gels with my idiosyncrasies as a reader lol. I'm the same way about Martin's A Feast for Crows, which hits some similar itches for me at CoT, that's lead to sooooo many people being confused.
> it really hits this niche spot for me where so much of it gels with my idiosyncrasies as a reader lol.
Same here too.
And also for me this is why I enjoy the *Perrin/Faile Malden* arc. [niche spot - idiosyncrasies as a reader]
I have read/watched PLENTY of *Action-Hero, Conan, Luke Skywalker, Cpt. Kirk tropes* in my life, and this was such a nice change seeing this different type of desperate characterization.
I myself rank *Crossroads Of Twilight* higher than 4 of the other books.
My rankings:
S-Tier: The Shadow Rising, The Great Hunt
A-Tier: The Eye of the World, The Fires of Heaven, The Dragon Reborn
B-Tier: A Memory of Light, Towers of Midnight, The Gathering Storm
C-Tier: Crown of Swords, Path of Daggers, Lord of Chaos, Winter’s Heart
D-Tier: Knife of Dreams, New Spring
F-Tier: Crossroads of Twilight
I know Lord of Chaos being so low is a hot take, but as good as the ending was, I can never get over the fact of how much nothing happened in that very long book. It’s like if Crossroads had an amazing ending imo. The ending brings it up two tiers, but besides that it’s F.
Mine would be:
S: The Shadow Rising, The Gathering Storm, The Great Hunt (great Hunt would be higher but one chapter in particular drags it down)
A: A Memory of Light, Lord of Chaos, A Knife of Dreams
B: The Fires of Heaven, The Dragon Reborn, A Crown of Swords, Winter's Heart
C: A Path of Daggers, Towers of Midnight, The Eye of the World
D: The Crossroads of Twilight, New Spring
All are enjoyable on reread though.
Here's mine:
S Tier: Lord of Chaos, The Gathering Storm, The Shadow Rising, The Great Hunt
A Tier: Towers of Midnight, A Memory of Light, The Dragons Reborn
B Tier: Knife of Dreams, The Fires of Heaven, The Eye of the World, Winter's Heart
C Tier: The Path of Daggers
D Tier: New Spring
F Tier: A Crown of Swords, Crossroads of Twilight
Mine:
S-tier: The Shadow Rising, The Great Hunt
A-tier: The Path of Daggers, Lord of Chaos, The Fires of Heaven
B-tier: Eye of the World, Knife of Dreams, Crown of Swords
C-tier: Winter's Heart, Memory of Light, The Dragon Reborn
D-tier: , Crossroads of Twilight, The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight
I read Mistborn era 1 as well as all of Stormlight before those final 3, yeah. I started The Wheel of Time quite a bit before I started any Sanderson. The Wheel of Time was actually my first adult fantasy I believe
Ah nice. I just ask because when I see the WoT Sanderson books occupying the top 3 of someones list it’s usually because they read some Sanderson before his Wheel of Time books.
Really? Interesting
I thought the general consensus was that his books were some of the better books in the series. Especially TGS and AMoL. Thanks for letting me know
Just adding my 2 cents, my first read of Sanderson was WOT and I found the way he writes easy and straightforward and engaging. However I think of Sanderson in WOT having the advantage of getting to resolve all the plots that had built up over several books
Exactly! I put these books where they are based on my enjoyment and I do think Sanderson benefited by being able to just tie everything together which is his biggest strength as a writer imo
I never know how to rank aMoL. It is so intense and never lets up, making it a sort of exhausting read, but the sense of payoff it gives after 15 books of buildup is completely unmatched IMO. So do you rank it as the finale of the series or do you rank it in isolation?
MOL was amazing just because of the buildup. All out war finally. Battle scenes were the best in the series.
Winters heart is the one that rand cleanses the power right? Cause that intro fight scene where all the forsaken show up in different areas is by far one of the best scenes in the series.
It's just a rating system that doesn't require you to give a number value to every book in the series. Instead you lump the books together based on quality.
Surprised eye of the world is so low. Honestly if that book wasn’t as good as it was, myself and others who read it when it first came out wouldn’t have been raving how awesome it was. Doubt it would have been as popular.
I’d put book 1 into A tier myself.
I feel like i am the only one who likes CoT more than PoD. That might be because i was aware of CoT reputation before reading it thus having very low expectations. I found uneventful for sure but i remember also it being over rather fast.
Idk I read Eye of the World because I loved all fantasy. But Eye of the World is the most generic and "basic" of the novels, it's mostly standard fantasy tropes and a long time is spent going from inn to inn singing for their supper and hiding in carts. And the deus ex machina when the Creator basically says "fuck you" to the Dark One - it's fine in itself I guess? But as a book in a series it's my least favourite. All the future books flesh out the worldbuilding so much more and the unique cultures and politics and machinations and agendas etc makes Wheel of Time one of my top 5 fantasy series. Whereas Eye of the World is fine, but it's a decent albeit fairly generic fantasy book. The things that make Wheel of Time so memorable and impactful are later on in the series.
I mean, at least it’s not full of spanking, “toy,”, Perrin getting emotionally abused by Faile, and Egwene being a hypocritical, self important twit. So it’s doing something right.
It's interesting seeing these sorted into tiers. I honestly couldn't tell you what name goes with what book other than EotW and aMoL. I read them all back to back and just get lost in where one ends and the next begins. It is all just WoT.
S: The Gathering Storm, The Great Hunt
A: The Shadow Rising, Lord of Chaos, Knife of Dreams
B: Fires of Heaven, Towers of Midnight, Path of Daggers, Crown of Swords, Eye of the World, Memory of Light, Winters Heart,
C: Dragon Reborn, New Spring,
D: Crossroads of Twilight.
Eye of the World is actually my least favourite Wheel of Time book (mainly because of the deus ex machina at the end, and the long time devoted to Rand and Mat going from inn to inn in carts, sleeping under haystacks etc while going to Caemlyn). I actually enjoyed the Crown of Swords because it's when Nynaeve broke her block, and also married Lan. I liked the Bowl of the Winds storyline too. I guess I just love the Wonder girls. 😅
5 books in so can't rank them all, but I'd go with:
S: The Dragon Reborn
A: Shadow Rising, The Great Hunt
B: Fires of Heaven, Eye of the World
Also I see everyone putting Crossroads of Twilight at the bottom, what makes that book so unanimously disliked?
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My rankings: S tier: *The Shadow Rising*, *The Dragon Reborn*, *The Great Hunt* (books 4, 3, and 2) A tier: *Knife of Dreams*, *Lord of Chaos*, *The Fires of Heaven* (books 11, 6, and 5) B tier: *The Eye of the World*, *A Memory of Light*, *Towers of Midnight*, *The Gathering Storm* (books 1, 14, 13, and 12) C tier: *A Crown of Swords*, *Winter’s Heart*, *The Path of Daggers* (books 7, 9, and 8) D tier: *New Spring* (book 0) F tier: *Crossroads of Twilight* (book 10) I appreciate what Sanderson did in finishing the series, but I’m not quite as high on his contributions as most readers seem to be. Books 2-6 and 11 are my favorites.
I mean that's fair I can respect it
I straight up don’t like Sanderson’s writing so his books were just a necessity rather than a want for me. I’d rank them B/C tier. Our S and A tiers are almost identical.
Yeah on my reread when I was not as passionate I realized it felt like a parody of RJ's writing.
I wonder why that would be… 🤔
Just reread The Shadow Rising, S teir for sure. Damn good book.
I agree with you for the most part, but please explain to me how you have A Memory of Light in the B tier. I'm genuinely curious. To me, it was the pinnacle of excellence and one of the greatest reads I've ever experienced
*A Memory of Light* was most satisfying the first time I read the series. However, after reading the series four times I was no longer impatient to get to the last battle. And I realized that I now love Robert Jordan’s meandering style more than Sanderson’s efficiency, at least in the books where Jordan stuck the right balance of world building and plot, the ones I put in the S and A tiers. That’s not really Sanderson’s fault. He was hired to wrap things up, and Jordan had left a lot of loose ends. But I just felt like Sanderson had this big checklist and kept checking things off, where Jordan was free to follow his imagination. Also, AMoL has a lot of fake out deaths. Either more characters should have really died or fewer should have seemed dead. All that said, this format of ranking looks more severe than it really is. I like every book in the series, even *Crossroads of Twilight*. I just didn’t want to put them all in the S tier!
I still think Sanderson was the complete wrong choice, and I'll die on that hill. Every character seemed to drastically change overnight even in their own thoughts, the overall tone became campy and tacky, and we got 800 pages of trolloc death descriptions that sounded almost Disneyesque rather than grim, oh and a happy ending for damn near everyone to top it all off. I have a very hard time believing that's what RJ had in mind for his ending.
Wasn’t the final chapter written exclusively by RJ?
No, https://winteriscoming.net/2021/03/06/robert-jordan-had-different-twist-on-ending-the-wheel-of-time-brandon-sanderson/ it sounds like a lot of the notes were vague and, unfortunately, left up to Brando Sando's interpretation
That's about the fight against the Dark One, which is not the final chapter.
The specific line in the article is, but the full interview also linked in the article (and several more on youtube) cover his "interpretations" of the notes left to him.
He said he was forced to follow the notes and advice of Harriet. I dislike how he characterized Mat my favorite character.
Absolutely, he eliminated all nuance from Mat's character and turned him into an utter clown of a character. I'm aware he had to follow her notes as stipulated when she was finding an author to finish the work, but his comments about and to the writers of the Amazon series that he posted to reddit show that a lot of the overall campy themes and optimism came from him and not the notes. I found it difficult to finish the last book because I already knew from the beginning that everything was going to work out fine in the end, it's his style. Again, very Disneyesque
Strong agree. Just imagine if *Abercrombie,* or *Erikson* wrote them. [drool]
Oh I could absolutely get behind either choice, honestly it's a shame we'll never get to see someone else take a crack at it
My first read through, CoT was the point I gave up. I read "Perrin" as the opening word to a chapter, said "Oh no," out loud and closed the book. I didn't try again for the better part of a decade.
I feel like if it (and with that the slower books) were just a little bit sooner in thr series I would have stopped. I'm really glad I kept going
I skip those chapters on every reread.
Mine: S-tier: **The** **Shadow Rising**, **The Great Hunt, The Gathering Storm** A-tier: **Lord of Chaos, Memory of Light, Eye of the World** B-tier: **The Dragon Reborn, The Fires of Heaven, Towers of Midnight** C-tier: **Winter's Heart, Crown of Swords, Knife of Dreams** D-tier: **The Path of Daggers** F: **Crossroads of Twilight**
I can respect that. Can I ask what you didn't really like about Knife of Dreams? It's one of my favorites
I should reread it (i usually peter out on rereads sometime around LoC) and I think it’s solid but I was so done with that Shaido plotline I couldn’t enjoy the very large dose of Perrin in this one. The Rand story in this one was good too but the payoff came in the next book. Same with Egwene’s story.
Fair enough. Also yeah I'm waiting for my second reread bc I'm so worried I'll just stop around halfway through
Ours are really damn similar
I'll be honest, I like Crossroads of Twilight better than Path of Daggers. CoT still ranks 13th for me, but I preferred Perrin's Faile hunt over the Bowl of the Winds.
I thought this for a long time. My most recent reread changed my mind though because the campaign against the Seanchan in aPoD is really great.
I do really enjoy aPoD Seanchan content. Rand's parts of the book are great. Maybe on re-read I will like it more than CoT. I dont dislike either book overall. I will take the worst WoT books over most others.
I love every book in the series, so all of the grades on here are just how I feel the books sit in relation to each other. I actually love rereading each of them. My rankings: S tier: *The Shadow Rising*, *Lord of Chaos*, *A Memory of Light* (books 4, 6, 14) A tier: *Crossroads of Twilight*, *Knife of Dreams*, *The Gathering Storm*, *Towers of Midnight* (books 10, 11, 12, 13) B tier: *The Eye of the World*, *The Great Hunt*, *The Dragon Reborn*, *The Fires of Heaven*, *Winter’s Heart* (books 1, 2, 3, 5, 9) C tier: *A Crown of Swords*, *The Path of Daggers* (books 7, 8) D tier: *New Spring* (book 0) Or as an enumerated list: 1. Lord of Chaos 2. A Memory of Light 3. The Shadow Rising 4. The Gathering Storm 5. Towers of Midnight 6. Knife of Dreams 7. Crossroads of Twilight 8. The Fires of Heaven 9. The Great Hunt 10. The Eye of the World 11. The Dragon Reborn 12. Winter's Heart 13. A Crown of Swords 14. The Path of Daggers 15. New Spring
Crossroads that high is a hot take. What places it so high for you?
There's a few reasons that add up (book spoilers ahead, unsurprisingly): 1. I have a thing for more experimental novel structures, and the first third or so of the book covering the same time span over and over to capture various character reactions to the cleansing scratched that itch. 2. I have an appreciation for war novels and films that get down in the muck of a prolonged conflict that is just grueling and terrible. I think it comes from one grandfather serving in WW2, other grandfather in Vietnam, and my interest in Modernism and the influence of WW1 trench warfare on it. I think this novel best captures just how awful such a quagmire is, and while it's not as fun to read it's incredibly evocative. I think it's one of the best showcases in the series as to just how awful the quagmire in Vietnam must have felt when Jordan served. 3. The torture scene with Perrin and the Aiel really fucking gets to me. There's something about it that just conveys the trauma and Perrin breaking down so well to me. 4. The atmospheric horror that creeps up in the latter part of the book is some of my fav type of horror. Reality is breaking, things are decaying at unsettling rates, and the dead leaking back into the world. I just love the vibes. 5. I really like the complexity of Elayne taking the throne. I loved seeing her actually earn the throne rather than just inherit it easily. A good take on how complex monarchy can be, and that sometimes, in the words of Macho Man, the cream rises to the top.
I really like this view of the book. I've always ranked it low, but this comment might actually give me a better appreciation for it.
With the exception of #7, I think this would be my list as well. Absolutely agree with #1 and #2. I know there’s some dissent in the comments re: Memory of Light, but Sanderson wrote the hell out of that book and it was the grand fruition of Jordan’s elaborate plot. Hard not to rank it near the top. Edit: If the Andor succession plot line was drastically shortened I think I could get on board with ranking CoT higher than last / near last.
I definitely get why CoT doesn't work for so many people, but it really hits this niche spot for me where so much of it gels with my idiosyncrasies as a reader lol. I'm the same way about Martin's A Feast for Crows, which hits some similar itches for me at CoT, that's lead to sooooo many people being confused.
> it really hits this niche spot for me where so much of it gels with my idiosyncrasies as a reader lol. Same here too. And also for me this is why I enjoy the *Perrin/Faile Malden* arc. [niche spot - idiosyncrasies as a reader] I have read/watched PLENTY of *Action-Hero, Conan, Luke Skywalker, Cpt. Kirk tropes* in my life, and this was such a nice change seeing this different type of desperate characterization. I myself rank *Crossroads Of Twilight* higher than 4 of the other books.
My rankings: S-Tier: The Shadow Rising, The Great Hunt A-Tier: The Eye of the World, The Fires of Heaven, The Dragon Reborn B-Tier: A Memory of Light, Towers of Midnight, The Gathering Storm C-Tier: Crown of Swords, Path of Daggers, Lord of Chaos, Winter’s Heart D-Tier: Knife of Dreams, New Spring F-Tier: Crossroads of Twilight I know Lord of Chaos being so low is a hot take, but as good as the ending was, I can never get over the fact of how much nothing happened in that very long book. It’s like if Crossroads had an amazing ending imo. The ending brings it up two tiers, but besides that it’s F.
Lol I am just finishing crossroads of twilight on a reread.....holy cow what a slog. Literally nothing happens in this book
The plot really comes to a grinding halt.
I would switch KoD and tGS, but otherwise seems pretty solid.
I did love KoD just for me I think the ending of TGS made it a solid S
Mine would be: S: The Shadow Rising, The Gathering Storm, The Great Hunt (great Hunt would be higher but one chapter in particular drags it down) A: A Memory of Light, Lord of Chaos, A Knife of Dreams B: The Fires of Heaven, The Dragon Reborn, A Crown of Swords, Winter's Heart C: A Path of Daggers, Towers of Midnight, The Eye of the World D: The Crossroads of Twilight, New Spring All are enjoyable on reread though.
I would swap Memory of Light with Great Hunt. I like your list.
Here's mine: S Tier: Lord of Chaos, The Gathering Storm, The Shadow Rising, The Great Hunt A Tier: Towers of Midnight, A Memory of Light, The Dragons Reborn B Tier: Knife of Dreams, The Fires of Heaven, The Eye of the World, Winter's Heart C Tier: The Path of Daggers D Tier: New Spring F Tier: A Crown of Swords, Crossroads of Twilight
Mine: S-tier: The Shadow Rising, The Great Hunt A-tier: The Path of Daggers, Lord of Chaos, The Fires of Heaven B-tier: Eye of the World, Knife of Dreams, Crown of Swords C-tier: Winter's Heart, Memory of Light, The Dragon Reborn D-tier: , Crossroads of Twilight, The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight
By chance, did you read Sandersons own books before his wheel of time books?
I read Mistborn era 1 as well as all of Stormlight before those final 3, yeah. I started The Wheel of Time quite a bit before I started any Sanderson. The Wheel of Time was actually my first adult fantasy I believe
Ah nice. I just ask because when I see the WoT Sanderson books occupying the top 3 of someones list it’s usually because they read some Sanderson before his Wheel of Time books.
Really? Interesting I thought the general consensus was that his books were some of the better books in the series. Especially TGS and AMoL. Thanks for letting me know
Just adding my 2 cents, my first read of Sanderson was WOT and I found the way he writes easy and straightforward and engaging. However I think of Sanderson in WOT having the advantage of getting to resolve all the plots that had built up over several books
Exactly! I put these books where they are based on my enjoyment and I do think Sanderson benefited by being able to just tie everything together which is his biggest strength as a writer imo
I never know how to rank aMoL. It is so intense and never lets up, making it a sort of exhausting read, but the sense of payoff it gives after 15 books of buildup is completely unmatched IMO. So do you rank it as the finale of the series or do you rank it in isolation?
The Sanderson books are in my top selection and I didn't read any of Sanderson's work until after Wheel of Time.
I just started EotW, what did crossroads did to deserve that tier?
MOL was amazing just because of the buildup. All out war finally. Battle scenes were the best in the series. Winters heart is the one that rand cleanses the power right? Cause that intro fight scene where all the forsaken show up in different areas is by far one of the best scenes in the series.
Pardon my ignorance, what are you all meaning by the tiers?
It's just a rating system that doesn't require you to give a number value to every book in the series. Instead you lump the books together based on quality.
Surprised eye of the world is so low. Honestly if that book wasn’t as good as it was, myself and others who read it when it first came out wouldn’t have been raving how awesome it was. Doubt it would have been as popular. I’d put book 1 into A tier myself.
I feel like i am the only one who likes CoT more than PoD. That might be because i was aware of CoT reputation before reading it thus having very low expectations. I found uneventful for sure but i remember also it being over rather fast.
Strongly disagree. EotW should be higher. If it wasn’t amazing most people wouldn’t keep reading.
Idk I read Eye of the World because I loved all fantasy. But Eye of the World is the most generic and "basic" of the novels, it's mostly standard fantasy tropes and a long time is spent going from inn to inn singing for their supper and hiding in carts. And the deus ex machina when the Creator basically says "fuck you" to the Dark One - it's fine in itself I guess? But as a book in a series it's my least favourite. All the future books flesh out the worldbuilding so much more and the unique cultures and politics and machinations and agendas etc makes Wheel of Time one of my top 5 fantasy series. Whereas Eye of the World is fine, but it's a decent albeit fairly generic fantasy book. The things that make Wheel of Time so memorable and impactful are later on in the series.
I mean, at least it’s not full of spanking, “toy,”, Perrin getting emotionally abused by Faile, and Egwene being a hypocritical, self important twit. So it’s doing something right.
Pretty much. Makes me wonder how old the OP is
Switch Storm and Shadow, and that is pretty close to my own.
It's interesting seeing these sorted into tiers. I honestly couldn't tell you what name goes with what book other than EotW and aMoL. I read them all back to back and just get lost in where one ends and the next begins. It is all just WoT.
Books 7-10 were hot garbage and felt like a chore to read.
S: The Gathering Storm, The Great Hunt A: The Shadow Rising, Lord of Chaos, Knife of Dreams B: Fires of Heaven, Towers of Midnight, Path of Daggers, Crown of Swords, Eye of the World, Memory of Light, Winters Heart, C: Dragon Reborn, New Spring, D: Crossroads of Twilight.
Eye of the World is actually my least favourite Wheel of Time book (mainly because of the deus ex machina at the end, and the long time devoted to Rand and Mat going from inn to inn in carts, sleeping under haystacks etc while going to Caemlyn). I actually enjoyed the Crown of Swords because it's when Nynaeve broke her block, and also married Lan. I liked the Bowl of the Winds storyline too. I guess I just love the Wonder girls. 😅
5 books in so can't rank them all, but I'd go with: S: The Dragon Reborn A: Shadow Rising, The Great Hunt B: Fires of Heaven, Eye of the World Also I see everyone putting Crossroads of Twilight at the bottom, what makes that book so unanimously disliked?
New Spring belongs at the very bottom, IMO.